Our candidate has lost the election and we have been accused of whining. What a glorious accusation! It means that we are assuming our rights as patriots and instead of accepting what we consider unacceptable, we are fighting for ways to make our country better for more of us rather than for less.

In the past week, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other countries have been terrorized by a renegade act of nature. Scientists have tried to define tsunami but they have been unable to explain this particular one – global warming, environmental change – words are flung about because we must always have a place to lay the blame. As bad as we feel, we feel better when there is a culprit, whether it’s an act of nature or the result of man’s inhumanity to man.

What really matters, of course is the outcome. The violence of September 11 destroyed more than 3000 people. The tsunami of December 26 caused loss of life in numbers that staggered into the 100 thousands – and over – and therefore we can not actually comprehend. The rescue of a single child who has fallen down a well is more easily assimilated than the failed rescues of thousands of children. We turn off a little switch to protect our sensibilities from overload – it is simply beyond bearing.

Obviously not all of us, and that is so sad.

Unlike the leaders of much of the world, our President, rather than immediately address what was happening in southern Asia, ambled off to his Texas ranch to continue his vacation, leaving his deputy press secretary to make a statement. It was only after a United Nations representative criticized the indifferent response of the United States to what appeared to be a cataclysmic human event that the president came forth and complained about the comments from the UN. He hastily pledged $35 million dollars, an amount less than the $45 million his re-inauguration will cost.

This is wartime, or so our president has repeatedly told us, and in time of war such expenditure for pomp and ceremony is quite unseemly. Franklin Roosevelt hosted a small luncheon for his inauguration during wartime but George Bush will host nine balls, one for servicemen who will be specially invited as his guests. One can’t help but wonder if they wouldn’t have preferred better equipment or even a service bonus instead of a twirl around the floor.

After Spain offered $68million, and the rest of the world looked askance at the president’s niggardly original offer, $360 million was committed. Too little, too late, it seemed, because even the belated lowering of the flag couldn’t restore the image of the man who likes to call himself a good Christian through whose voice God speaks. Perhaps he should add the voices of the Gods of Mohammed or Moses and broaden his message.

Yes, I’m whining. While what the US pledged to humanitarian aide for the year 2004 was over $2billion, the United States spends an equal amount every ten days or so, to continue the occupation of Iraq. No matter the cost – both in human terms and in dollars- the president will “conquer” Iraq. Rescuing southern Asia, while it might help to reverse the negative impression the world has of the United States, is obviously not a very sexy issue in the president’s eyes and sends a clear message that at heart the “compassionate” conservative is in reality a wannabe builder of empires.